Laham

By the grace of God, at the Electoral Synod of the Patriarchal Melkite Greek Catholic Church held at Rabweh, Lebanon and presided by the Patriarchal Administrator the Most Reverend John Mansour on November 27-29, 2000, the Most Reverend Archbishop Lutfy Laham, Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem was elected as the new Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. The new Patriarch took a new name, as is the custom, Gregorios (Gregory) III.

Patriarch Gregory III was born in Daraya, near Damascus Syria, in 1933. The village of Daraya is known traditionally to be the place of the conversion of St. Paul on his way to Damascus. His Beatitude entered the Seminary of the Holy Savior of the Basilian Salvatorian Fathers in Shoof, Lebanon in 1943. He took is simple religious vows in the Basilian Salvatorian Order in 1949 and his solemn religious vows in 1954. He received his religious and philosophy education at the Holy Savior Seminary. He continued his Theological studies in Rome where he obtained the Doctorate degree in Oriental Theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He was superior of the Holy Savior Major Seminary in 1961-64.

In 1962, His Beatitude founded the magazine “Al-Wahdah”-Unity in the Faith, the first ecumenical magazine to be published in the Arabic language. In 1966, he founded together with the Most Reverend George Kwaiter, now Archbishop of Saida and Deir-el-Kamar, and the Right Reverend Salim Ghazal, now Superior General of the Basilian Salvatorian Order, the Providence Home, at Salhiyeh, near Saida, Lebanon, as an orphanage and a trade school.

In 1974, he was appointed Administrator of the Patriarchal Vicariate of Jerusalem. In 1976, in Jerusalem, he founded the “Student Fund” to help needy students and in 1978 the Family Assistance Fund to help needy families in the troubled areas of his Diocese. In 1967, he founded at the Patriarchate the Oriental Library to promulgate the knowledge of Eastern tradition. He initiated many social projects such as repairing churches, opening clinics and building popular housing.

In 1981, he was ordained Archbishop and continued his work as Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem as successor to Archbishop Hilarion Cappucci. He is well known throughout the Middle East and Europe as an Ecumenist and a Theologian.

Appointed by Patriarch Maximos V Hakim as president of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, he edited the Anthologion, the prayer book of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in four volumes, and the Book of the Liturgies, a complete and updated compendium of the Divine Liturgy. As Secretary of the Ecumenical Commission of the Melkite Patriarchate, he has been very active in the Dialogue between the two Sister Churches, the Melkite Greek Catholic and the Greek (Antiochian) Orthodox Churches. He is also a member of the League of the Universities and Institutes of Religious Studies in the Middle East.

The installation of the New Patriarch took place at 11:30am, Wednesday, November 29, immediately after his election by 30 Bishops assembled in a special Synod for that purpose. Present at the installation was His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim who had resigned for reasons of health at 92 years of age. Many religious and political personalities rushed to Rabweh to attend the Installation, as soon as the good news was caught and spread by the media.

The new Patriarch is an author of many books among which are the following (All in Arabic except #4):

1. “Introduction to the Liturgical Services and their symbols in the Eastern Church."
2. “The Voice of the Shepherd-Eastern Liturgical Spirituality.”
3. “Life of Archbishop Germanos Adam.”
4. Translation of “History of the Melkite Church” in English and German.
5. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council.

As if We were present in person, We wish by this letter to commemorate a special event of your life, namely the fiftieth anniversary, on the first Sunday of Lent this year, of your priestly ordination, and with Our sincere wishes and prayers to join you and all your flock in this joyful solemnity.

This is indeed an excellent opportunity to recall on this important occasion your accomplishments in the service of Christ, by which you have embellished your fruitful ministry as a priest and a bishop.

Perceiving the call of the Lord while you were a youth, you entered the Melkite Basilian Order, and there professed your solemn vows at the end of the year 1949. When you had finished your philosophical and theological studies, you were ordained as a priest on February 17. 1952. At the Pontifical Gregorian University you obtained a licenciate in theology, and in Boston you secured the title of Master of Arts.

After you had left your renowned land of Lebanon, you accomplished assiduous pastoral work in various locations: in the town of Zerka in Jordan, in parishes dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Manchester and then in Toronto, in the Parish of Saint Joseph in Lawrence, and finally in the Cathedral Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roslindale. No less actively you worked in the field of education: you taught moral theology and philosophy in the Monastery of Saint Savior in Lebanon, and then in the Seminary of Saint Basil in Methuen, where you were rector for three years.

Because of your excellent gifts of intellect, in the year 1977 you were named Archimandrite. Then in 1986 you were made Titular Bishop of Abilene of Lysanias and Auxiliary to the Ordinary of the Melkite Greek Diocese of Newton, to whom you succeeded seven years later, and you still fulfill this very weighty duty.

Now that fifty years of your priestly labors have passed, Venerable Brother, we wish to encourage you to zealously continue to fulfill your office of Pastor and Master. Accordingly, renew in your mind the saying of the Apostles of the Gentiles: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on to the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3, 13-14) The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, whom you venerate with filial love, will provide the necessary help and protect your pastoral projects.

Therefore, Venerable Brother, receive this evidence of Our good will and Our Apostolic Blessing, which we joyfully impart as a pledge of heavenly reward, first to you, and then to your Auxiliary Bishop, to all the community of the Melkite Greek Diocese of Newton, and to all who are joined with you in love.

From the Vatican, on January 17, 2002, in the twenty-fourth year of Our Pontificate.